1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the design and implementation of AC/DC semiconductor light emitting diode devices and lamps with high reliability by the incorporation of one or more integrated protection mechanisms. In some embodiments, the AC/DC LED is directly powered by an AC voltage (i.e. 100V, 110/120V or 220/240V line voltage, or 6.0 VAC, 12 VAC, 18 VAC and 24 VAC, etc.) or a high DC voltage (i.e. 12V, 48V, etc.). These embodiments can be used in LEDs for low power devices for indication and high power devices for general illumination or lighting. The integrated protection elements have the function of reducing and/or easing the influence of voltage variations on device performance and lifetime.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional LEDs, because of physical limitations, have traditionally only been run under very low DC voltages (roughly between 1V to 5V depending on semiconductor materials used) because of device limitations.